The big Three-Way Finale, straight from Boston

Here it is, the finale of last week's Big Quiz Thing at Oberon in Boston (well, Cambridge). Hurrah.

Recap: BQT goes to grad school

Yes, indeed: Thursday night marked the Big Quiz Thing's Boston-area debut, in Harvard Square's lovely Oberon, and the hit was of the tremendous variety. Hurray for the 130-plus trivia geeks who came out to see why trivia is worth paying a cover charge for; you nerds know your shit. (Though I still can't believe only one squad got this: What happened on TV in the following years: 1966, 1987, 1993, 1995, 2001?)

Since this was our debut in this new market, we whipped out some of the BQT's marquee games—Bipolar Movie Challenge was a delight as always, and Slooow Songs is especially gratifying; seeing the teams gradually come to a realization for each track fills me with a warm sensation. And yes, we did the big Three-Way Finale, though a tie for third-place necessitated a brief runoff. Thanks to everyone for not being fucking crybabies.

As for this specific venue, Oberon's an interesting place; more of a theater than Crash Mansion or (Le) Poisson Rouge, but still ideally suited for the BQT. In DJ role, EDP was way up in the booth on the balcony, on the mike as the voice of God, while I was on stage with our guest B-Cutie, the legendary Katie Vagnino. The stage had a ridiculously massive screen directly behind me. It all looked awesome. Extra props to Oberon's staff, who played the game as "Staff Infection"—yes, pretty much the same name as the staff team at Crash Mansion, though the Oberon people did considerably better (perfect score on the audio round!). And the standings; hopefully we'll see some of these people again:

1. Up in Your Grill: Harvard, reprezent! They won it on two during the finale with Who is the namesake of two state capitals, a country in South America, a Canadian province, and a major American university? and What 1989 hit romantic comedy film—along with its two sequels—starred two confirmed Scientologists?
2. Howard Zinn Kicks Ass!/All Your Junk Hanging Out (tie)
4. Dorkasm
5. Fire Walk with Me
6. Admiral Snackbar/Monstrous Humanoids (who vow, via Twitter, to come down to NYC and win the game on the BQT's home turf) (tie)
8. Ass to Ass
9. Unusual Suspects/Jersey Unshore (tie)

Stay tuned for when we return to MA…

In Cambridge!

New York’s premier team-trivia event heads to Boston, MA, with a big show at Oberon, Thurs, Jan 28, with a $200 cash prize.

Buy tickets here

“It might save us from the hell that is karaoke,” declared MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann. He was talking about The Big Quiz Thing, New York’s No. 1 live game show and the ultimate trivia event, packing in 100-plus hipster-nerd acolytes twice a month for geeky-good multimedia competition. After seven years of delighting New Yorkers and private clients nationwide, the BQT now brings its multimedia game-show spectacular to Oberon in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with a big $200 grand prize.

Quizmaster Noah Tarnow, joined by sidekick-DJ EDP, plus The B-Cuties, presents the complete, high-tech, video-based test of meaningless information, for the glory of knowing that you possess more useless knowledge than your peers. Highlights include the BQT’s beloved signature games (this edition featuring The Bipolar Movie Challenge and Really, Really, Really Slow Songs), along with the famed Lightning Round, the Three-Way Finale, clever banter, audience smack-talking, and so much more. Plus, fabulous prizes, including $200 in cash, books, DVDs, show tickets, Big Quiz Thing T-shirts and more. And even when players can’t hazard a guess, there’s hope: If a wrong answer makes the crowd laugh, it’s marked correct and earns a Smart-Ass Point. Everyone plays, everyone laughs.

Since 2002, the Big Quiz Thing has established itself as New York's premier source of trivia entertainment. It's entertained in special events and corporate retreats throughout the country, and Quizmaster Noah has hosted stand-up comedy, variety, and burlesque shows all along the East Coast.

Trivial times call for trivial trivia, and in a culture ruled by bite-size information and prepackaged wisdom, nothing is nobler than a live quiz show. Come see the event that NYC’s The Village Voice declared “The Best Place to Get in Touch with Your Inner Nerd.”

The Big Quiz Thing comes to Oberon, 2 Arrow Street in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Thursday, January 28 at 8pm Admission is a mere $10, and there is a $200 cash grand prize. For more info, visit bigquizthing.com, or contact quizmaster Noah Tarnow at noah@bigquizthing.com. Buy tickets here.

Quiz me this…
Q: What product has 20 answers: ten affirmative, five negative, and five noncommittal?

Q: What Hollywood star’s name is the inverse of a casino game?
Q: Though unavailable in stores, what's the third bestselling cookie brand in the U.S.?
Q: Who were the two U.S. vice presidents who shot a man while in office?

More questions at twitter.com/bigquizthing
Video at youtube.com/bigquizthing
Other general goodness at bigquizthing.com

Recap: See, there are two arms

That's Jim Abbott, former New York Yankees pitcher. Clearly, he has two arms. So last night, when I asked "What was physiologically unusual about Jim Abbott, a pitcher who threw a no-hitter for the Yankees in 1993?," I really shouldn't have given a half point for "He was missing an arm." But hey, I'm a charitable guy. Nonetheless, a visit to Abbott's official website confirms: He was missing a hand. Don't say I never do nothing nice for you.

What did we learn at last night's fabulous Martin Luther King Day edition of the Big Quiz Thing at Crash Mansion? A lot:

— There are a lot of names/titles that have the word king in them, everything from the Sacramento Kings to Peking duck to Rodney King (both too soon and too late), all seen in the "Court of Kings" video round. Smart-Ass Point to the team that couldn't ID John King beyond "The fucking guy on CNN."

— Six Feet Under is not a sitcom. But if Quizmaster Noah writes a four-part question about sitcom finales and puts Six Feet Under in there and then forgets to rename the category, it should count as a sitcom.

— This is a good question: "What’s the common description? Mark Twain’s hometown, an Oscar-winning role from 1991, and a man who was famous for riding an elephant." I know that it's good, because an audience member told me so. And then told me he's a professional crossword-puzzle designer, so you know you can trust him.

— The Not-So-Secret Secret Clue is a hit. Make sure you follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get a fresh clue the day of each new Big Quiz Thing.

— What's "the Greatest Love of All" according to Whitney Houston? It's not cocaine, though if you answer that, you get a great, big Smart-Ass Point, which will help compensate for your team coming in last place (thanks, Pictorograham Punks!).

—The BQT's Boston-area debut is next week! Tell your Boston-area friends that they're in for an experience they will never, ever forget, at least for a couple months or so.

— The Three-Way Finale keeps going strong. And the standings are (now with a top ten)…

1. Fat Kids Eat the Profits: Their first victory after four years of contention. Their superstar representative took the crown with "In 1986, what became the first rap album to hit No. 1 in the U.S.?" Definitely figureoutable, so if you like, chalk it up to being quick on the buzzer. Still, a well-earned victory.
2. Gerard Depardouche/Incontinental Congress: They both kept it tense till the final question, which is what we thrive on.
4. Strippers for Stephen Hawking: Only team to completely ace the "Maximum Elvis" audio round.
5. The Fantastic Fourincators/Jefferson Davis Starship
7. Cash Cab for Cutie
8. Big Green Cabbage: Making their long-awaited return.
9. Oh Noah You Didn't/Sugah Titz

Who will win next time? You never can tell with all this Three-Way excitement. Be there on February 1 to find out (and to witness the return of "Movie + Movie + Movie = TV Show").

The best tool shed in Boston

In promoting the Big Quiz Thing's first Boston event (January 28!), I've run into a thorny predicament. The press seems receptive (we have a shot at some love from The Boston Phoenix), but as I try to use the newfangled Facespaces and Twittups to reach out to Beantown trivia hounds, I've been getting a particular brand of push-back, to the effect of, "Why would I pay to play trivia?"

Trivia is a somewhat bigger deal in Boston than here. Actually, scratch that—it's defiantly not a big deal there, it's just a more familiar presence in the hum of city life. There's a company called Stump Trivia that presents quiz events at many bars in the metropolitan Boston area, one of which I attended once, and it kind of sucked. Regardless, more than in NYC, everyone seems to know about "bar trivia," and everyone seems to assume Stump is the basic model: some guy on a microphone reading moderately interesting questions in a boilerplate Irish bar. No video, very little audio, no shiny jacket. And no cover charge.

All well and good. The city, I figured, is primed to experience something on a higher level. But habits are tough to break, especially when you're asking for a little money. Someone on Yelp, in referring to my show, said, "He's charging for trivia? What a tool shed." Which confuses me—is a "tool shed" the same as a "tool" (i.e., one who is used by others)? Aren't I the opposite of a tool if, according to this guy, I'm getting people to pay me for something that is usually given away for free? Or maybe being a tool shed means that my event is the ideal venue for tools, which I guess is more logically consistent with his apparent opinion. (Either way, I later discovered this guy is himself a Stump host. Ha ha.)

I've run into this quandary before. My usual reply is, you get what you pay for. You probably wouldn't hesitate to pay, say, $15 to see a great rock band at a good club, even though some guy is playing guitar at the bar down the street from you for nothing (and the rock band doesn't even give you a chance to win back your cover charge). Standard bar trivia nights can be great fun—one of the best nights of my life involved winning a quiz at an Irish pub, followed by making out with a teammate—but I think we provide a lot more. Besides, we've proved it for years in New York, where we consistently outdraw the various free quiz events.

So here's my task for you, BQT fans: Think of your pals/associates/Facebook friends in the Boston area. No doubt, some of them have the trivia bug, or at least an appreciation for quality live entertainment. Forward them this link, and let them know it's worth every penny. Once we've conquered the globe, you can have a warm feeling knowing it was partially—and vitally—thanks to you.

Calendar: Bar mitzvahs and Boston

Just got official word about two forthcoming BQT events, both biggish news…

(1) We're doing a bar mitzvah, our first (if you don't count my actual own bar mitzvah; for all I know, my haftorah was indeed full of trivia questions in Hebrew). Since the early days of the quiz, people have jokingly suggested we'd be hot stuff on the candy-throwing-and-Coke-and-Pepsi circuit, but I was always wary of this. I have vivid memories of many bar/bat mitzvahs, with overhormoned teenagers running around suburban banquet halls like idiots, melting candles into parfait glasses and trying to get to second base with that one girl who was developing early. All good stuff, yet not fertile ground for an organized game. But this gig looks excellent: The mom assures me her son is a quiz nut, the crowd will be modestly sized, and I'm a pro by now. Should be fun (and yes, as always, e-mail booking@bigquizthing.com to set up your own private party).

(2) We're going to Boston! I mentioned it in the last calendar, but it's official: On Thursday, January 28, the Big Quiz Thing will be performing at Club Oberon, in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Yeah, okay, not literally Boston, but ten minutes on the T, you nit-pickers.) I spend a lot of time in that city, due to the presence of both my quizette and my family, so it feels like a natural move, and EDP is joining me on this trip so that we can show them how it's done—judging by the number of bars with quiz nights, trivia is a bigger deal in Boston than in NYC. Oberon is great—it's run by the American Repertory Theater, and is currently hosting The Donkey Show, which was a big hit here some years past (and, of course, was based on this, which is appropriate considering the venue name). I'll have a press release here tout suite, but in the meantime, tell your friends: Club Oberon, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge, Thursday, January 28, 8pm, $10.

Think we should hit another city and know of a venue that would be appropriate? Say the word.